S4 E10 ‘Sound of Metal’ — A Window Into Deaf Culture (Part One)

This week, we talk about the movie ‘Sound of Metal,’ a story about a drummer (played by Riz Ahmed) whose sudden loss of hearing puts him on an unlikely journey of growth and self-discovery. We also discuss how little we know about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, about sign language and Deaf culture. The conversation is so good and so long that we split it into two parts. See full transcript in Chinese for part 1 here. 【Timecodes】3:15 Brief introduction to Sound of Metal8:56 Our first impressions of the film18:15 On-screen moments that moved us: seeing a hearing guide dog, ASL, and deaf music education 20:55 The exquisite sound design of the movie 25:48 What’s currently missing from mainstream awareness of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community, what are the 4 deaf identities, ASL (American Sign Language) as a language, what is Deaf culture 36:48 Why we need to cast more deaf actors in deaf roles44:14 ASL as a language and its role in forming a community 【Guest introduction】Xinke Liu (she/her) is the co-founder of a startup that provides medical-grade hearing aids for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She wore hearing aids in her teenage years and underwent the procedure to have cochlear implants after college. She is currently based in China. Yiru Chen (she/her) graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a major in Film and TV production and minors in Psychology and American Sign Language. She is currently a student of the MA program in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.  She is an active member of both Shanghai and New York signing communities and her goal is to promote sign language education and arts in both countries. Her film “Handscape” has been screened at multiple film festivals in and out of China.  【Audio editor】Joshua Ogden-Davis 【Too long didn’t listen】This is not your typical story of a person overcoming hardship to find himself. It’s not even that inspirational. What it does achieve is portraying one aspect of the vastly diverse and complicated Deaf community to the mainstream hearing community. It’s up to us to learn and educate ourselves about the rest. 【Be our sponsor】Please consider supporting us on Patreon (in USD, suitable for listeners who live in the U.S.) or Patreon 's Chinese equivalent (in RMB)【Links & resources】Handscape, directed by Yiru Chen36kr interview with Evoco Labs Good resources on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community in China:  守语者（shouyuzhe2014)你看起来好动听手屿Relevant MoviesFeeling ThroughChild of Lesser God【Business collabs】Please reach out to us at loudmurmursfm@gmail.com for any business inquiries. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

Om Podcasten

Loud Murmurs is a Mandarin-Chinese podcast about American pop culture, brought to you by four bilingual and bi-cultural women in the U.S. and their friends. We discuss movies, TV, documentaries, and the social, political issues reflected on by a piece of pop culture work. Too often, race, gender and other political and cultural issues are the subtext in pop culture. We seek to make the subtext explicit, question it and challenge it. The show is now in its third season, updated biweekly. We have interviewed guests ranging from science fiction writers, comedians, to scholars and journalists. Our goal is to make the most thought-provoking Chinese podcast about American pop culture. 小声喧哗是一档以女性视角来观察和批判影视文本如何塑造世界的播客。《小声喧哗》Loud Murmurs, 是一档以女性视角来观察和批判影视文本如何塑造世界的播客。文化和审美的自觉认同从来都是隐含在创造者对世界的想象中，而这样的想象催生出许多充满偏见的创造动机。这样的创造动机渗透在我们日复一日热爱的欧美电影中，美剧里，渗透在我们对于事物的认知中。今天，我们想要去挑战它。紧跟影视热点和时事的同时，保持了双周频率的持续输出。在制作节目时，小声喧哗经常邀请学者和影评人参与我们的节目，使节目的观点更加多元化和专业。小声喧哗致力在中文世界，做最好的流行文化播客。